It's been something of a slow week following the hiatus the week before. Mainly it's due to the frustration with the tradespeople. It feels both futile and untimely to be trying to do things until the large pieces of work (plumbing and wiring) have been completed. These occupy a lot of space and tend to mess up the walls somewhat, meaning doing anything remedial feels a touch futile. Why fill and sand a wall if someone's going to pop along a plough a furrow into it?

Nonetheless things have been done. Some of the chases have had a filling of Bonding (not kinky, it's like plaster but grittier and better for deep holes) having been coated in PVA glue the week before. It's incredible how much better plaster stick to PVA coated wall over 'normal' wall. It's simply astounding and must be tried at home. One tries to fill the chases to a concave shape with the Bonding such that you can come along later and give it a coat of finishing plaster back to wall level. The easy way is to smear it all in the channel with a plasterer's float then half an hour later go back over everything with a wet sponge. The sponge will wipe the surrounding wall of smeared overspill, reducing clear-up and sanding duties later, and also smooth and dish the filled section. Sadly as it's cold and damp in the house the plaster is taking quite some time to fully set, save from above the boiler where it's warm. To proceed with the finish coat or not? Only the internet can tell.

For those thinking about trying this at home you can also use a plaster product called Hardwall. If you read the words on the packets of Bonding and Hardwall one suggests it's good for low suction backgrounds (bricks and dense stuff), the other for high suction backgrounds (porous stones). Don't ask which one's which or when to use each, the fora were keen on Bonding so that's what we got. Incidentally the Bristol flat got Hardwall instead. No idea how PVA affects things either. Apart from beneficially.

The bars in the title refer to those of the kitchen front window. Hideous and with life-filling banefulness, they've been sitting there trying to look inconspicuous enough to not be touched. Their time came though, added to the list of things to do this weekend. For the sake of six screws and the chance to finally properly close one of the windows it was well worth it. It also looks nice now.

We've been plagued with flies too. Not just in late summer where the whole of the South West was carpeted with them, but since the weather's turned cold they've been infiltrating upstairs. They had provided fun if a little irritating evening entertainment, chased around with a handheld Dyson (#NotPaidForAdvert) and sucked to their clear binned prison in a swirl of cyclonic dust. Saturday lunch provided a little time to sit and observe their ingress which was concluded to be around the window frame. The solution: sealing tape. This would also help stop drafts and keep a little heat in. A trip to Wickes later and the P shaped spongy, rubbery tape was applied. The source of the flies was also revealed upon close inspection when the tape was applied. Some channels (about 4mm wide) had been cut into the stone mullions in order to accept draft excluding brush strips. These hadn't been noticed before as the most visible one has been mostly filled in with mortar. The remaining ones though were crammed, properly crammed, with hibernating flies. Beastly things. Some had shuffled along their dastardly coil and infiltrated the warm house. But no more. Since sealing, their insurgence has abated completely. Just as soon as the thin vacuum nozzle can be found the remaining exterior ones may just cop it...

Finally committed to boring a hole through the kitchen wall for sink drainage reasons, the trench works were re-opened. More surprises here. The wall is somewhat hollow and partially shielded by some sort of iron or steel tank/hopper. Which was more surprising between the metal and the void is still contested. There's a very damp smell too. The bad news is that the metal makes boring a hole somewhat challenging. It's really in the way but not quite enough to justify its obliteration. The solution is likely to be drilling a hole in from the other side (from the inspection chamber) and hope something will work out. Sadly it looks like there might be more metalwork in the way. Time will tell when the hole saw sinks its teeth into the masonry. Meanwhile, the stones under the trench fall away fairly easily to reveal what might be just loosely packed stone but could conceivably be some sort of old drainage channel. Humph.

In the meantime an order of 50mm black PVC waste pipe and connectors has gone in to force the issue. If there's something which drives progress here it's having materials lying around waiting to go somewhere. There's a new inspection chamber cover coming too. This one though instead of just being steel and somewhat ugly (and very heavy) has a plastic frame (unfortunately, sounds like a cheapening by the industry) and a recessed top. This means that in time the cover can be paved within to make a near seamless look for the patio - far better than a big silver plate. Artist's impression below.

The old galved steel water pipes were sectioned and removed thanks to a cut-off disc for the grinder. Sparks-ahoy! This has been a long time coming and satisfying task.

The bikes were placed in their cupboard to get them out of the way for the first time. What a great fit it is too.

Other than that (which admittedly sounds fairly productive retrospectively) and with the light levels dropping too low to do more plastering, a long bath with the latest Private Eye was had followed by a little baking. Santé!

As a bonus, and because Ian Fleming would approve*, here's the recipe for the best cookies you'll ever have: 6oz (170g) Butter 7oz (200g) Muscavado sugar (light or dark) 4oz (100g) Caster sugar 1 egg 1 yolk 7oz (200g) Plain flour 7oz (200g) Self-raising flour Melt the butter and sugar together. Add the eggs when it's cool enough, then the flours. It makes a stiff dough which can be rolled by hand without making a mess. Add flavourings and fillings to taste. Bake 2oz/50g balls at 200 fan for 8 minutes, turning 5 minutes in for an even bake. They're the closest thing to Ben's Cookies, which can be found in various well-to-do places in the UK like Bath, Oxford and better parts of London, as well as Dubai. The best ones so far included home-caramelised hazelnuts and milk chocolate. *In 007 in New York, a short story from Octopussy and The Living Daylights, Ian Fleming includes a recipe for scrambled eggs. Sounds nice if you're into that sort of thing.